Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York to Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport (FCO) in Rome, Italy, via Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), Paris, France. On July 17, 1996, at about 20:31 EDT (00:31 on July 18 UTC), the Boeing 747-131 flying the route (tail number N93119) exploded in mid-air and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. All 230 people on board (two pilots, two flight engineers, 14 flight attendants, 212 passengers) were killed and the aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft had left JFK twenty or so minutes earlier, at around 20:19 EDT. While investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) travelled to the scene, arriving the following day, much initial speculation centered on the crash being a terrorist attack. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated a parallel investigation into the crash. On November 18, 1997, it announced that no evidence had been found of a criminal act and the NTSB assumed sole control on the investigation. The NTSB investigation ended with the adoption of their final report on August 23, 2000. In it they concluded that the probable cause of the accident was "an explosion of the center wing fuel tank (CWT), resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. The source of ignition energy for the explosion could not be determined with certainty, but, of the sources evaluated by the investigation, the most likely was a short circuit outside of the CWT that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication system." Alternative theories propose that an external missile strike by a U.S. Navy vessel or terrorist, or, alternatively, an on-board bomb, caused the crash. The NTSB investigation considered the possibility that a bomb or missile caused the mishap, but "none of the damage characteristics typically associated with a high-energy explosion of a bomb or missile warhead (such as severe pitting, cratering, petalling, or hot gas washing) were found on any portion of the recovered airplane structure". [wikipedia]
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"TWA 800: The Search for the Truth" examines what happened that July night back in 1996, when TWA Flight 800 took off from Kennedy Airport in New York en route to Paris. Minutes later a series of explosions sent the 747 plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 230 people aboard. Correspondent Reid Collins, a 30-year veteran of CBS News and CNN, narrates this documentary and interviews eyewitnesses, family members of victims and air-crash investigators who have looked into what happened that night. Was the government correct in its conclusion that a spark in the center-wing fuel tank caused the explosion? Or have government officials covered up important facts about the fate of TWA Flight 800? Could the tragedy have been caused by an Islamic terrorist network? Or did a Naval exercise off the coast of Long Island go terribly wrong? A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says he believes the plane was shot down, and numerous military and civilian experts offer their opinions on what may or may not have happened. Watch this compelling and provocative program and decide for yourself. Has the full story been told? Not until now.
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